WTN: '02 Verget Cuvée de la Butte

Last night, Jean plank-grilled some salmon and put a bottle of Gruet Brut in the freezer for a quick chill. When she asked me to open it later, I pulled the cork only to have an icy plug push out, followed by a geyser of half the bottle in thick, foamy bubbles. This was the result of a gigantic plug of ice still inside the bottle, nucleating the effervescence. By the time the foaming had subsided we were left with half a bottle that was flat and... CORKED!!!

So, back to the "ready-to-drink" rack for a room temp bottle of:

2002 Verget Chablis "Cuvée de la Butte"
color: pale gold
nose: initially oaky, slight minerality, a hint of oxidation
palate: citrussy, more in the grapefruit vein than lemon, slight minerality, tart acidity but lacking in crispness nonetheless

A cooling sleeve placed over the bottle brought it down to drinking temperature in 10 min or so, and it was better than my first taste at room temp. This was the last of a few bottles of Verget Chablis purchased at a steep discount at Sam's years ago. Like the others, the house style of Verget doesn't translate well to Chablis. This wine was too oaky and lacking in focus. It tasted like a decent but not outstanding CalChard with some age on it.

Mark Lipton

[David M. Bueker]

So not so much a beaut?

Look on the bright side, two fewer bad bottles in your cellar.

So not so much a beaut?

More of a butt, truth be told.

Mark Lipton

Look on the bright side, two fewer bad bottles in your cellar.

That was pretty much my attitude when opening the Verget: I had low expectations, but needed something to drink with the salmon on short notice (and I am not of the Pinot Noir with salmon school). And let's be honest: this wasn't a BAD bottle, just not what I expect from a Chablis from a good year. You can read the comments on CT about this wine and ask yourself if I had a bad bottle of it -- a view that I find unlikely in view of my other experiences with Verget's '02 Chablis.

Mark Lipton

p.s. If you're going to still be in London in early Oct., drop me a line.

p.s. If you're going to still be in London in early Oct., drop me a line.

Unfortunately I leave Sept 18, so I guess I'll miss you.

But, enjoy your trip. I'm sure it will be great.

And, for what it's worth, I didn't mean to imply that the Verget was a bad bottle in the sense of not being representative of the wine but rather a bad bottle in the sense of not being delicious. I mean we can't make 100% perfect purchases and I know myself there is always some small bit of joy at weeding down the less-than-ideal purchases.

p.s. If you're going to still be in London in early Oct., drop me a line.

Unfortunately I leave Sept 18, so I guess I'll miss you.

But, enjoy your trip. I'm sure it will be great.

I hope the trip will be great. I have plans to visit wineries in Beaujolais, the N. Rhone and possibly the Mâconnais with a French winegeek friend while in Lyon. But it's always tough to visit during vendange, so we'll have to see... Regarding the culling of less-than-exciting bottles, I agree. We can't all have SFJoe-type cull parties (well, acytually, we have had a few).

Mark Lipton